So, I was looking forward to launching a Sunday Night Blog on the 1st of November. I figured it was about time I got some use out of my blog, and although I truly am not a journal writer, I figured a weekly thing was something I could commit to. Then I had to decide on when and Sunday seemed an ideal candidate. Weeknights are not the greatest for me as I can barely be inspired to do my reading for school – and I pay for that privilege. If I did Saturdays, that’s really no good either because on the odd occasion I do actually have plans. So Sunday – and the first of a new month to boot, well, wasn’t that auspicious. As you can see, not a lot came of it.
I could cite spotty internet connectivity at home as an excuse, because it has been a bit of an issue of late, but, in all honesty, I plum forgot and spent most of the day getting the memory down on my PVR, which concluded with a recent film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. It was my first exposure to Thomas Hardy, and for an English Lit. Major, I thought that was odd, to say the least. Being interested in literature, I have heard the name mentioned many times, and seen the titles of his novels on library shelves and reading lists, and yet, here we are. Obviously Victorian, I wonder how contemporaries felt about it.
In today’s mode of thinking, the poor girl had no chance and one traumatising experience ends up tainting her entire life, robs her of her future, and the past not staying in the past is always the cause of the next chain of unfortunate events. I think it also questions how we view independence as a concept. In the film, Tess’s independence is mentioned many times, but her ability and desire to stand on her own two feet is always at odds with her reality and her environment. I consider myself independent, fiercely independent even, but in Tess’s case, her circumstances, societal amongst other factors, those things beyond her direct control, have a hold on her so firmly, that her independent spirit is how she travels from jess to jess, never actually losing the fetters binding her, regardless of who’s holding them. Breaking free, only to be captured again and again, it’s like she’s ultimate prize bird, because everyone wants to keep her, for differing motives and purposes, and all she wants is...I don’t know. I don’t believe she ever said what she really wanted, other than to be with Angel Clare. Could it really be that simple?
At this point I would really like to read the book. It sounds like a complex story, and there’s only so much a cinematic screenplay can convey and address. Or maybe I just don’t want it to be that simple, so conventional.
More next week - circumstances willing.
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